From verse 22 to the end of the chapter, one complete and self contained subject unfolds before us: the prayer of King Shlomo. Shlomo had finished building the Temple, and now he lifts up a prayer before the Holy One, blessed be He, in which he sets out what he expects from this great and holy House: what spiritual influence will emanate from it, how prayers will ascend through it, and which prayers. All these requests are now laid before the Almighty.
וַיַּעֲמֹד שְׁלֹמֹה לִפְנֵי מִזְבַּח יְהֹוָה נֶגֶד כׇּל־קְהַל יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּפְרֹשׂ כַּפָּיו הַשָּׁמָיִם׃ - And Shlomo stood before the altar of Hashem in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven.
In Divrei HaYamim II chapter 6 this is described at greater length: Shlomo made a bronze laver, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high (about a meter and a half by two and a half, a meter and a half tall), and placed it in the courtyard, "and he stood upon it and knelt down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven." This entire long prayer before us was said while Shlomo knelt upon his knees.
The content of Shlomo's opening is: Master of the Universe, You promised my father two things. The first promise: Shlomo your son will reign after you and he will build the House for My name; this is an absolute promise, with no condition whatsoever. The second promise: "And even his grandchildren I will set upon a throne for you," meaning I will not cut off from you the royal dynasty as I cut it off from Saul, but rather, as long as there is kingship in Israel it will be from the dynasty of David. However, the second promise was stated with a condition: "If your children keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them" - then their children too, forever, will sit upon a throne for you.
King David prayed about this and requested: Master of the Universe, I ask that in every situation You promise me that a son will sit upon my throne, and grandsons too upon my throne; and if they do not behave properly, do not take the kingship from them, but rather rebuke them, chastise them, set them upon the path of truth. And so indeed it is said: "I will be to him a father and he will be to Me a son, so that when he sins I will chastise him with the rod of men and with the afflictions of human beings, but My kindness shall not depart from him." He will make trouble and receive slaps, but the kindness will remain and he will remain king upon my throne.
And the first in whom this was fulfilled was Shlomo himself. Toward the end of his days Hashem raised up an adversary against him, Rezon son of Elyada and Ben Hadad. What is an adversary? A nation that comes and harasses. When we look today and see how many adversaries have been raised up against us - the Palestinians, the Syrians, the Iranians, the Lebanese, Hezbollah - we can understand how bad our situation is. But with Shlomo a single adversary was raised up, and in accordance with David's request: that if his children and grandchildren strayed from the path, Hashem would rebuke them with the rod of men so that they would return to the right path.
וַיֹּאמַר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵין־כָּמוֹךָ אֱלֹהִים בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וְעַל־הָאָרֶץ מִתָּחַת שֹׁמֵר הַבְּרִית וְהַחֶסֶד לַעֲבָדֶיךָ הַהֹלְכִים לְפָנֶיךָ בְּכׇל־לִבָּם׃ - And he said, Hashem, God of Israel, there is no God like You in the heavens above or on the earth below, who keeps the covenant and the kindness for Your servants who walk before You with all their heart.
There are two matters here: covenant and kindness. Covenant - once I have made a covenant, the matter no longer depends on my will; I am obligated to stand behind it. Kindness - this is a good promise that goes beyond the covenant. And corresponding to these two, Shlomo first says "there is no God like You." For flesh and blood sometimes cannot fulfill the contract: he undertook to bring a certain sum by a certain date, and he has no way to raise the sum - he is limited; and sometimes he wants to act but others prevent him and he is under duress. With the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no reality of limitation in keeping the covenant. "There is no God like You in the heavens above or on the earth below" - therefore You keep the covenant and can keep Your promise with no impediment. Who could hold You back?
A second possibility for annulling the covenant is a change of will: perhaps the one to whom the good promises were made corrupted his deeds and is no longer worthy. Against this Shlomo continues "and the kindness." A good promise the Holy One, blessed be He, never breaks. A decree for the bad - if they change their deeds, it changes for the good; but a promise for the good has no possibility of change whatsoever.
The Gemara says that the Holy One never retracted a good thing that He promised, except for one time. There it is stated "and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men" - a mark for life and a mark for death, that some would be for death and some for life. The attribute of justice came and accused: how are these different from those? The Holy One said to it: these are perfectly righteous. It said to Him: but they should have protested and did not protest. He said to it: I know that it would not have helped had they protested. It said to Him: You know, but do they know? And since that is so, they should have protested. The Holy One agreed with it and said: correct, let them all be for death. This is the one and only time that Hashem retracted a decree for the good, and other than this He never retracts at all. And this is what Shlomo means by "who keeps the covenant and the kindness" - that Your will does not change and Your good promise does not change, for if You have promised something for the good it will be fulfilled forever.
אֲשֶׁר שָׁמַרְתָּ לְעַבְדְּךָ דָּוִד אָבִי אֵת אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּרְתָּ לוֹ וַתְּדַבֵּר בְּפִיךָ וּבְיָדְךָ מִלֵּאתָ כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה׃ - That You kept for Your servant David my father what You spoke to him; You spoke with Your mouth and with Your hand You fulfilled it, as it is this day.
"That You kept" - we see with our own eyes that You kept the promise. Where do we see it? Here I reign and here I have built the House, just as You promised that your son would reign after you and would build the House. "You spoke with Your mouth and with Your hand You fulfilled it" - with the Holy One, the speech and its fulfillment are one and the same; "with Your hand You fulfilled it" means You brought it into actuality. And from here he requests: just as You brought the first part into actuality, so too fulfill the request to its end.
וְעַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁמֹר לְעַבְדְּךָ דָוִד אָבִי אֵת אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ לּוֹ לֵאמֹר לֹא־יִכָּרֵת לְךָ אִישׁ מִלְּפָנַי יֹשֵׁב עַל־כִּסֵּא יִשְׂרָאֵל רַק אִם־יִשְׁמְרוּ בָנֶיךָ אֶת־דַּרְכָּם לָלֶכֶת לְפָנַי כַּאֲשֶׁר הָלַכְתָּ לְפָנָי׃ - And now, Hashem, God of Israel, keep for Your servant David my father what You spoke to him, saying: there shall not be cut off from you a man before Me sitting on the throne of Israel, only if your sons keep their way to walk before Me as you have walked before Me.
Now Shlomo moves to the second part of the promise: the inheritance of the kingship forever. Just as You began to fulfill the first promise, uphold the additional promise as well. And even though this one has a condition - I ask that You fulfill it with the condition, but fulfill it.
וְעַתָּה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל יֵאָמֶן נָא דְּבָרְךָ אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ לְעַבְדְּךָ דָּוִד אָבִי׃ - And now, God of Israel, let Your word be confirmed, which You spoke to Your servant David my father.
"Let it be confirmed" is from the expression of verifying, from the expression of faith: to fulfill the matter in faithfulness, that is, in truth. His request is that even if the sons stray from the way and You chastise them, in the end You will establish the kingship in their hands.
כִּי הַאֻמְנָם יֵשֵׁב אֱלֹהִים עַל־הָאָרֶץ הִנֵּה הַשָּׁמַיִם וּשְׁמֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם לֹא יְכַלְכְּלוּךָ אַף כִּי־הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר בָּנִיתִי׃ - For will God truly dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain You, how much less this House that I have built.
The Radak explains that this is an expression of wonder: is it conceivable that the Holy One, blessed be He, should dwell upon the earth, when it is written that the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You - there is, as it were, no place for the Holy One, blessed be He, in all the heavens and the heaven of heavens. This is why He is called "HaMakom" (the Place), for the Holy One, blessed be He, is the place of the world: the world exists within Him, blessed be He, and not He within the world. We can say that we are in Petach Tikva, which is in Eretz Yisrael, which is in the Middle East, which is on planet Earth, which is in a certain galaxy, and so on - we are a mere pinpoint within all the worlds. With the Holy One, blessed be He, it is the reverse: the world is a pinpoint within the Creator Himself, blessed be He. This is the meaning of "the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You." If so, "how much less this house that I have built" - how can Your Shechinah rest in such a confined place, in a hundred amot?
Shlomo prefaces here an important introduction: do not think that I built a house for the Holy One, blessed be He, and that consequently He now enters to dwell here. These are not the terms being discussed. If so, what is the meaning of "I have surely built You a lofty house, a place for You to dwell in forever"? A place where Hashem will cause His Shechinah and His providence to rest, with individual providence (hashgachah pratit), to hear continually all who come there. This is the concept of the resting of the Shechinah.
For example, and though this is a crude parable it brings the matter closer to understanding: a person built in his house a chamber for the king. Does the fact that you designated a room for the king mean that tomorrow he abandons the palace, moves in with you, and eats and drinks in your house? No. Rather, what is in this chamber? A direct telephone line to the king. In this chamber you install the red line, directly to the Creator of the world. Such is the nature of the Beit HaMikdash: a place through which we connect to the spiritual realm. It is not that the Holy One, blessed be He, brings Himself into the house, but that from this house He casts upon us His individual providence, and the source of prayer passes through there, for that is the source of providence.
וּפָנִיתָ אֶל־תְּפִלַּת עַבְדְּךָ וְאֶל־תְּחִנָּתוֹ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָי לִשְׁמֹעַ אֶל־הָרִנָּה וְאֶל־הַתְּפִלָּה אֲשֶׁר עַבְדְּךָ מִתְפַּלֵּל לְפָנֶיךָ הַיּוֹם׃ - And turn toward the prayer of Your servant and toward his supplication, Hashem my God, to hearken to the cry and to the prayer that Your servant prays before You today.
There is a doubled expression here: "and turn toward the prayer of Your servant" and afterward "to hearken to the cry," and prayer is not the same as a cry (rinah). The Malbim explains that he is turning to Hashem to turn toward what he is praying: I ask that this hour be a time of favor, that You hearken to my cry and my prayer that I will pray before You today. And here we find something interesting and novel: a person prays to Hashem that He accept his prayer. An introduction before the prayer - before I begin to pray, I pray to You that You hearken to my prayer.
לִהְיוֹת עֵינֶךָ פְתֻחֹת אֶל־הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה לַיְלָה וָיוֹם אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אָמַרְתָּ יִהְיֶה שְׁמִי שָׁם לִשְׁמֹעַ אֶל־הַתְּפִלָּה אֲשֶׁר יִתְפַּלֵּל עַבְדְּךָ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה׃ - That Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You said, My Name shall be there, to hearken to the prayer that Your servant will pray toward this place.
He asks that Hashem watch over with continual providence, and that His eyes range always over the prayers that people will come and pray in this house. Here let us note two situations. There is a situation in which Israel are worthy, and then the Shechinah rests literally between the keruvim, between the staves of the aron within the Beit HaMikdash, and Hashem, as it were, is with us and dwells among us. And there is a situation in which Israel are not worthy and are not on the proper level, and then only the Name of Hashem dwells in the house, but He Himself, as it were, does not dwell within it; the essence of the Shechinah departs from the house and is found above in the heavens, and only through the house does the prayer ascend and reach heavenward.
Corresponding to these two levels are the two expressions in the pasuk. Regarding the first case, in which Israel are worthy and the Shechinah rests below between the staves of the aron, it says "that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day" - Your eyes are open within the house itself. And regarding the second case, in which Israel are not worthy and His Shechinah, blessed be He, is in the heavens and only His Name is called here, it says "toward the place of which You said, My Name shall be there" - the Name of Hashem will dwell within the house. Like a king who has a palace in a distant city, and also a palace near his son: when he is in his own house his eye gazes upon the palace beside his son, and when he is beside his son his eye gazes upon the palace in the distant city.
According to this, "to hearken to the prayer that Your servant will pray toward this place" speaks of the situation in which the Shechinah rests within the house: You are, as it were, present here below and hear the prayer here.
וְשָׁמַעְתָּ אֶל־תְּחִנַּת עַבְדְּךָ וְעַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יִתְפַּלְלוּ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה וְאַתָּה תִּשְׁמַע אֶל־מְקוֹם שִׁבְתְּךָ אֶל־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְשָׁמַעְתָּ וְסָלָחְתָּ׃ - And hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in Your dwelling place, in heaven, and when You hear, forgive.
The Malbim explains that there is a difference between prayer (tefillah) and supplication (techinah). Prayer is the outpouring of the soul and the cleaving of the spirit to its root, for the spirit clings to Hashem. Prayer is also from the word petilah (wick), which denotes joining: "naftulei Elokim niftalti"; when several strands of flax are joined together they become a wick, and prayer is the joining and cleaving to Hashem. Supplication, by contrast, expresses a request that Hashem grant me my needs as a free gift: I am not worthy, and yet I ask that You give to me.
When a person prays, he merits by virtue of the very cleaving to Hashem, and Hashem, as it were, gives to him because of that cleaving. Therefore, of the first case it says "and turn to the prayer of Your servant" - when we are righteous and worthy and cleave to Hashem, hear the prayer. And when we are not worthy and not deserving, and the Shechinah has already risen above and only Hashem's name is called upon the House, of this case he asks "and to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel": hear us as a supplication, a free gift, for we are not deserving.
From here the continuation is also understood: "to heaven, and when You hear, forgive." For this refers to the case where we are not worthy, and then we are in need of pardon, and therefore forgiveness is mentioned here. Likewise "hear in Your dwelling place, in heaven": that the prayer should reach up to Your dwelling place in heaven, for when we are not worthy His dwelling place is above and only His name is called here. That the prayer should ascend through this House up to heaven, and You will have mercy on them and forgive them their sins.
אֵת אֲשֶׁר יֶחֱטָא אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ וְנָשָׁא־בוֹ אָלָה לְהַאֲלֹתוֹ וּבָא אָלָה לִפְנֵי מִזְבַּחֲךָ בַּבַּיִת הַזֶּה׃ - When a man sins against his fellow, and an oath is imposed upon him to make him swear, and the oath comes before Your altar in this House.
Now he asks also concerning matters between man and his fellow: when a person has a dispute and a case against his fellow, and comes to complain about a wrong done to him, until "an oath is imposed upon him to make him swear" - an alah is a curse, "lehaaloto" to curse him - "and the oath comes before Your altar in this House." Our Sages expound, and Rashi cites this, that the verse speaks of the matter of a married woman: "and an oath is imposed upon him" - that the woman is made to drink the bitter waters, and just as the waters afflict her so they afflict the adulterer as well. Therefore it says "to make him swear" and not only "to make her swear." And his request is that the oath truly take effect and do its work, that the waters afflict both that sotah and that adulterer. For we find a reality where the oath does not strike immediately, as the Gemara says that there is merit that suspends for several years, and therefore he asks that the oath take effect and truly strike.
וְאַתָּה תִּשְׁמַע הַשָּׁמַיִם וְעָשִׂיתָ וְשָׁפַטְתָּ אֶת־עֲבָדֶיךָ לְהַרְשִׁיעַ רָשָׁע לָתֵת דַּרְכּוֹ בְּרֹאשׁוֹ וּלְהַצְדִּיק צַדִּיק לָתֶת לוֹ כְּצִדְקָתוֹ׃ - Then hear in heaven, and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his way upon his own head, and vindicating the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.
His request: "and judge Your servants" - that You render among them a judgment of truth; "condemning the wicked by bringing his way upon his own head" - that he receive according to his evil deeds; "and vindicating the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness" - that he receive according to his righteousness. Yet at first glance the order of the verse is puzzling: it should have said "and judge and act," for the judge first judges and only afterward acts, while here it says "and act and judge." The Malbim explains that he asks that if a person has cursed, first Hashem should decree the judgment and declare that the oath will take effect upon the one deserving of it, and only afterward Hashem judges and determines who is the one deserving that the oath take effect upon him. And through this a situation could arise in which the oath takes effect upon the head of the one who cursed himself, when it becomes clear that he cursed unjustly. And of this King Shlomo himself said "a curse without cause shall come home to him" - there is no need to fear such a curse, it returns to the one who curses. Here too he asks "and act" immediately, that a person should know: if you curse, Hashem immediately decides that this curse will be fulfilled, and afterward He judges upon which of the two it will be fulfilled - upon the one deserving of it.
בְּהִנָּגֵף עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי אוֹיֵב אֲשֶׁר יֶחֶטְאוּ־לָךְ וְשָׁבוּ אֵלֶיךָ וְהוֹדוּ אֶת־שְׁמֶךָ וְהִתְפַּלְלוּ וְהִתְחַנְּנוּ אֵלֶיךָ בַּבַּיִת הַזֶּה׃ - When Your people Israel are struck down before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and give thanks to Your name and pray and plead with You in this House.
When there is a situation, Heaven forbid, in which Israel are struck down before their enemies in time of war. And why are they struck down? "Because they have sinned against You" - there is no such thing that we are righteous and innocent and yet are struck down before an enemy; necessarily they have sinned. "And they return to You" - if they repent; "and give thanks to Your name" - acknowledging that this came upon them because of their iniquity; "and pray and plead with You in this House."
וְאַתָּה תִּשְׁמַע הַשָּׁמַיִם וְסָלַחְתָּ לְחַטַּאת עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָם אֶל־הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתָּ לַאֲבוֹתָם׃ - Then You will hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land that You gave to their fathers.
Corresponding to their repentance he asks "then You will hear in heaven and forgive" - that You hear them and accept their repentance and forgive their iniquity; and corresponding to the prayer that they pray he asks "and bring them back to the land." The Malbim stresses: this verse is not speaking of a situation where they went out to war against an enemy in another land, but rather they are still within the borders of the land, for later, in verse 46, a situation will be discussed in which they are in another land. Here, when they are fighting within the borders of the land, the request is that He return them safely to their home - that they not remain at the borders and not be harmed there, Heaven forbid, but rather return home in peace.
The prayer of Shlomo before us is the definition of the purpose of the Beit HaMikdash: not a house for Him to dwell in, as it were, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him, but a place from which the Holy One, blessed be He, will cast His individual providence, and through which the prayers of Israel will ascend. Shlomo opens with praise, "there is none like You, God... who keeps the covenant and the kindness" - that before Hashem there is no limitation and no change of will, and therefore a good promise is fulfilled forever; he asks for the fulfillment of the two promises to David, the absolute and the conditional, with the condition it contains and with the suffering that comes in place of the cutting off of the kingdom; and he prays a prayer about prayer - that his cry be heard. He directs his requests to the two levels within the people of Israel: when they are worthy and the Shechinah dwells in the House - "Your eyes are open toward this House" and prayer that is cleaving; and when they are not worthy and only His name is called there - a plea for a free gift that ascends to His dwelling place in heaven, "and You will hear and forgive." And from there onward he specifies: true judgment between a person and his fellow, and oaths that fall upon the one who deserves it, and salvation and repentance in a time of defeat before an enemy, that Hashem return them in peace to their land.